UK eyes Rosebank, Jackdaw fields, offset 1‑2% gas imports
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- UK government faces pressure from oil industry, Conservatives, Reform UK, trade unions and Treasury to approve new North Sea oil and gas fields despite evidence they would not lower prices or meaningfully affect imports.
- Rosebank field would displace only 1% of the UK's gas imports if developed, according to research.
- Jackdaw field would displace only 2% of the UK's gas imports if developed, according to research.
- Nicolas Stern (London School of Economics) warned that new drilling would harm UK growth, energy security and send a damaging signal globally.
- African negotiator (anonymous) said Africa would reject any UK oil expansion, calling it inconsistent with the Paris agreement and damaging to trust with climate‑vulnerable nations.
- Christiana Figueres argued that expanding oil and gas drilling locks in outdated infrastructure and that true energy independence lies in scaling clean domestic energy.
- Ed Miliband will skip the Colombia climate conference, with climate envoy Rachel Kyte attending instead.
Why it matters: Developing nations lose credibility for clean‑energy transitions as the UK’s approval would signal that short‑term fossil‑fuel interests outweigh long‑term climate responsibility, while the UK risks losing its pioneering climate‑leadership reputation and undermining global trust, and could embolden other oil‑producing nations to expand drilling, pushing emissions beyond limits needed to avoid catastrophic warming.
